[WATCH] Cloverdene couple enjoy living off the grid

Cloverdene couple Darren Jansen van Vuuren and his wife, Irma, made a decision to live semi off the grid late last year and have not looked back since.

Darren, who is an electrician, said with recent energy scares (loadshedding) and being parents to a two-and-a-half-year-old toddler it made sense to them to opt for living off the grid.

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Living off the grid is a lifestyle of being self-reliant of services such as electricity and water without the need for government or other organisational intervention.

Being “semi” off the grid, as the couple is self-reliant for electricity but is still co-dependent on the municipality for their water usage, Darren and Irma make use of solar energy to power up their home. Darren explained that there are two ways to live off the grid in terms of electricity usage.

“There is a grid-tied system which means that you are living off the grid but can switch back to using the main breaker and this could be due to not having a big enough battery bank.

“The second type is completely off the grid and that is when you have a big enough battery bank to support you electricity needs.

“We fall under the second category.

“What a lot of people don’t realise is a generator actually would work out more expensive in the long run and with the rising cost of fuel the costs also increase,” explained Darren.

“With solar energy, even on a day when it’s cloudy, the panels are constantly drawing power and charging the batteries.

“The panels (on the roof) absorb the sunlight and provide power.

“While providing power it also charging the batteries.

“Once the UV rays are no longer accessible (night time) the batteries kick in.

Darren went on to explain the sun is not necessarily needed in order for the system to charge up, but rather UV rays are and a cool panel are often most effective for a charge.

Added to this, he said total and complete darkness, such as night for a longer duration than is the norm, would result in the system’s battery still being able to produce a day and half worth of power.

This, however, he explained would not be likely as even in cloudy weather conditions the solar panels still absorb energy.

“It has to be really bad weather for the panels not to capture the UV rays because even during cloudy weather conditions it is still absorbing energy from the sun.

“The brighter it is, the better the charge.

“Essentially, there wouldn’t be a day where you don’t have any charge.”

For their 200 square meter home, Darren and Irma say they had 15 panels installed and on average they use 360kw of electricity per month.

With this, the couple said living off the grid is also a lifestyle change.

“Of-course you have to adapt to your new source of power and use it efficiently.

“We had a gas geyser and stove installed as this allows for less energy consumption however our oven is still electric.

“You also shouldn’t use appliances like the dishwasher and washing machine at night as this uses the battery power, therefore you should use these during the day.

“That means instead of using power from the battery it will use the UV rays from the sun directly and not the stored energy in the batteries.

“You also shouldn’t abuse the battery power.

“The battery should not be drained beyond 40 per cent.

“If you use 80 per cent or more of the battery it will result in damage which means you would have to replace the battery quicker than anticipated.”

LED lighting has also been installed in their home as this is more energy efficient.

Darren explained there are two types of batteries.

“There are lithium ion batteries and lead acid batteries.

“Lithium is more expensive but than last around 15 years.

“The lead acid, which is what we have, is a more affordable option and can last around 10 years.

“This is an eight kilo volt system with a 600amp battery bank.

More batteries then mean you get a better charge.

“Being off the grid is a fantastic experience,” said Irma.

“We don’t even notice when the power goes off because we still have electricity.

WATER TANK

Due to living in a complex, the couple said it would be a challenge as well as very costly exercise to go off the grid with water.

“If we lived on a standalone property it would be easier to create a borehole and use that water for consumption,” said Irma.

“However, living in a complex means all the residents would have to use the borehole water and creating the various channels to ensure this is quite a process.”

Despite their co-dependency on council, the couple have a 500 litre tank that they say would supply them with around two day’s worth of water should the need arise and assists in bringing in a water pressure distribution into their home.

“We sometimes experience low water pressure which is a problem for our gas geyser,” explained Darren.

“We then had a pump installed that gives even distribution of pressure so once I open a tap, even if the council has reduced the water pressure, it flows as normal in our home.”

Darren said the system works with the tank and as water flows it reaches the pipeline, enter the water pressure pump and then flows into their home.

The couple added that if they decided to move they would still follow their off the grid lifestyle in a new home.

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